Gunmen killed a Shiite tribal sheik linked to British forces in a drive-by shooting Friday in the southern city of Basra, and two Marines were reported killed in fighting in a volatile province west of Baghdad.One Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5 and one Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died Thursday after fighting in Anbar province, an insurgent stronghold, the military said.The deaths raise to 53 the number of American troops who have died in December, which is on track to being one of the deadliest months of the war. At least 2,941 members of the U.S. military have died the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.A senior official from the Iraqi Red Crescent, meanwhile, claimed that harassment from U.S. forces is a greater threat to his group's work than insurgent attacks.... http://www.cbsnews.com

British premier Tony Blair faces a harder fight than ever to save his legacy in the wake of savage postmortems after he scrapped an arms deal bribery probe and was questioned by police investigating political funding.Blair, whose Labour party steamrollered a scandal-prone Conservative government 10 years ago on a pledge to be "whiter than white," was lacerated on Friday by British media, including some papers that had been his staunchest backers. The prime minister, who is to step down next year amid public anger over his unflagging support for the war in Iraq, said he took full responsibility for halting the probe — into allegations that bribes were paid to secure aerospace contracts with Saudi Arabia — because it could harm national security. "Yesterday will leave stains on Mr. Blair that will survive any amount of scrubbing," said the Guardian in a hard-hitting editorial, dubbing it his most "inglorious" day in office. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2728823

Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher asked the pontiff Friday to declare a day of fasting and penance to publicly declare repentance and express solidarity with the victims of clerical sex abuse. In a strongly worded lecture, he denounced the "abominations" committed inside the Roman Catholic Church "by its own ministers and pastors" and declared that the church "paid a high price for this." "The moment has come, after the emergency, to do the most important thing of all: to cry before God," the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa said in the first of a series of pre-Christmas lectures in the presence of the pope in a Vatican chapel. Cantalamessa suggested that the church "indicate a day of fasting and penance, at local and national level, where the problem was particularly strong, to publicly express repentance before God and solidarity with the victims." The Vatican had no immediate comment on the speech....http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/15/ap/world/mainD8M1ASC02.shtml

What consequences would a nuclear war between Israel and Iran, or between Pakistan and India, have for the world's climate? Scientists have now created a computer model of what might happen. The results are alarming -- even for experts. During the Cold War, a nuclear conflict was the No. 1 nightmare scenario -- one explored by scientists right down to the last detail. Today things have changed: The most significant danger is posed by a small-scale nuclear conflict between states such as India and Pakistan -- or by a nuclear attack launched from Iran or North Korea. Both countries are well on their way toward developing nuclear weapons. Until now, it was unclear what consequences such a conflict would have for the rest of the world. A new study from researchers in the United States offers the first estimation of the risks involved. ...http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,454571,00.html

The president of the weak transitional government has ruled out further peace talks with the Islamist militia controlling most of southern Somalia. With fears of war rising, Abdullahi Yusuf accused the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) of close al-Qaeda links. "We are no longer under the illusion that peace is possible with the UIC," he told reporters at his Baidoa base. The UIC denies links to al-Qaeda and vowed to attack Ethiopian troops if they have not left Somalia by Tuesday. Senior Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said his movement would not target the interim Somalia government - just Ethiopian troops. "Our country has been invaded by Ethiopia ... we should have thrown them out a long time ago." Ethiopia denies it has soldiers in Somalia, but admits to having hundreds of military trainers in the country supporting the government. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6184373.stm

Nobel Prize laureate Paul Crutzen says he has new data supporting his controversial theory that injecting the common pollutant sulfur into the atmosphere would cancel out the greenhouse effect. Though such a project could not be implemented for at least 10 years, the data is aimed at appeasing critics of the idea he first championed in the scientific journal Climatic Change in August. The Dutch meteorologist showed what he calls the positive cooling effect of adding a layer of sulfates to the atmosphere at a global warming conference at the Porter School for Environmental Studies in Tel Aviv. He said new, detailed calculations carried out since August showed the project would indeed lower global temperatures. "Our calculations using the best models available have shown that injecting 1 million tonnes of sulfur a year would cool down the climate so the greenhouse effect is wiped out," Crutzen told Reuters....http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2729095